Thankful For the Little Things in Life
by Ponchygirl
Summary: This is the first holiday story I'm posting and I'll be introducing a few ocs in this that you will get to know in my holiday stories this year and possibly in other stories later. Ponch and two other officers are asked to be the new advisors for the police explorer group. Hopefully all will work out ;)
1. Chapter 1

The wind blew softly against the back of the young blonde officer's neck as he tugged and yanked harshly on his partner trying to free him. The blonde officer had a few hot tears escape his eyes, as he tried desperately to free his unconscious partner.

His hands were starting to get numb from the cold, he wished he was still wearing gloves right now…he looked at his cold, pink skin, and instantly began to boil with anger towards himself. Why would he think about cold hands at a time like this?

The wind blew a little faster and the officer wished that he could ask it to stop. Then suddenly he heard a noise.

"Ow…" he heard the noise from his trapped partner.

"Hey, calm down you're gonna be ok," he assured him.

"I…I d-d-d-don't feel so g-g-good…"

"Hey, on the bright side you're awake," the young officer said with a slight smile.

His partner nodded slightly, and then started to go unconscious again, due to being in too much pain. Soon they could hear sirens, knowing help was on the way the young officer sighed in relief, hoping he wouldn't be losing his partner anytime soon.

It was a cool November day growing closer and closer to Thanksgiving, and little did these officers know this Thanksgiving was going to be one roller coaster ride.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Is Jerrad ok?" Asked CHP Officer Frank Poncherello as he walked into the report room, with two cups of coffee in hand, one for the officer still doing reports.

"Yeah, he'll be all right. It looked worse than it really was…just some broken ribs and a sprained wrist."

Ponch nodded. "That's good, I was worried…I hate when something happens so close to a holiday," Ponch replied sitting down he handed the other coffee to the officer at the table.

"Where's Jon? I rarely I ever see you without each other," Logan asked.

Ponch smiled. "Same for you and your partner," Ponch teased. "Jon's at court…he'll be back a little later so I figured I could come say hi…that is as long as Sarge doesn't find me. He's been on my case lately for no apparent reason," Ponch replied.

Logan laughed. "You'll find out sooner or later…"

"I'm sure I will, but the thing is I thought I've been pretty good lately."

Logan sat there and thought about it for a few minutes. "Yeah I guess you could say that…you haven't done anything that would require Getraer getting all upset…maybe he just wants to keep you on your toes."

"Oh great, just what I needed to hear. Thanks a lot, Logan," Ponch replied then got up and started to leave.

Logan just laughed. "Anytime, Ponch."

Ponch walked out of the room, and almost ran into Getraer. "Oh hi, Sarge," he said with a slight smile.

Getraer just looked at him then walked around. Ponch was confused, and just stared, watching as Getraer walked by, wondering what that was all about.

"Maybe Logan is right…or maybe something really is wrong," he said to himself then started to walk off.

Getraer entered the report room, and saw Logan sitting there doing his reports. He smiled slightly. Logan was one of the only officers that almost never complained about doing the reports though he hated doing it, he did it with no complaints. He wished all of his officers would do the same.

"Hey, you got a minute?" Getraer asked as he took as seat on the edge of the table.

Logan looked up from the very last bit of his report. "Give me just a second, Sarge if that's ok?"

"Yeah that's fine," Getraer replied.

"Great! I'm so close to finished," Logan replied. Then got back at it, he was finished within a few seconds. Then he set his pencil down and looked up at Getraer. The troubled look in his eyes told him that something wasn't right…either that or this was a hard question.

"All right can I start?"

"Of course," Logan replied then leaned back in his seat and looked up at him. The look in his baby blue eyes reflected the feeling of fear inside he had that something was wrong. Based off what had happened that morning and all that he and the Sarge had talked about today he thought he was coming to tell him more bad news about Jerrad.

Getraer could see Logan tensing up a bit, and the fear in his eyes before Getraer had even started. "Hey, relax…this is nothing bad…unless you think of it that way later on," Getraer said.

"Ok," Logan replied a little confused now.

"So as you know we have a police explorer group here…"

"Yeah I was a part of it once," Logan replied with a smirk.

"Anyway, the officer that is the advisor for them has decided to leave…we need a new advisor. I already asked Poncherello and he doesn't want to be stuck doing it alone. He's busy with a lot already, and would like to have help if he's going to be involved in it. The captain said Ponch would be a good choice… it was hard for him to say no to the captain…that being said I told him I'd talk to two other officers. The only two I could think of at the top of the list that are good enough for the job that I trust to work with him are you and Jerrad. Would you like to be an advisor?"

"Well sure! That sounds like fun and I get to work with Ponch, and Jerrad?"

"Yeah, they are a bigger group now than they were back when you were there. So I think three advisors is better than one and if needed we might bring Jon into it too."

"Sweet!"

Getraer smiled slightly. "Thanks…are those done?" he asked motioning towards the reports.

"Yeah," Logan replied handing them over. He got up and pushed in his chair. "Is that all you wanted, Sarge?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll e-mail you the schedule for all the meetings so you know when to come and everything. It'll be almost like when you were there, only you'll be an advisor instead of an explorer," Getraer replied.

"Thanks, Sarge," Logan replied with a smile then walked out the door. He headed for the locker room, where he was greeted by Grossie, Bear, Jeb, and Ponch.

"Looks like we've got three new leaders for the brat patrol," Grossie said with a smirk.

"Hey, I still don't understand why you called us that. None of us were brats…just the very first group was," Logan defended as he went to his locker.

"Ooh someone is sensitive," Grossie said.

Logan and Ponch shared a glance at each other. "Look, guys if you were a part of the group would you wanna be called a brat? They are police explorers, and some of them may end up officers someday…give them some respect, ok?" Ponch said then grabbed his coat because he was done dressing into his street clothes.

"Oh…never thought of it that way," Grossie said.

"That's cuz you never think," Logan teased.

Grossie made a face at him while the others laughed, and Ponch and Logan fist bumped.

They all chatted for a while, while getting ready to go home. As soon as all of them were out of uniform and in street clothes they started filing out of the locker room and heading on their way home.

"See ya later," Jeb said as he waved and walked out the door.

"Bye," Logan said almost running into the door.

Ponch laughed then they all walked out together.


	2. Chapter 2

A shiver ran down Monica's spine as she sat in the briefing room patiently waiting for the other explorers, and advisors to show up. The room was a little chilly, but she knew it would get a little warmer when more people should up. She had been sitting alone in there for a few minutes now. She looked at her watch for the fifth time that minute thinking maybe she came on the wrong night.

She began to mess with her long messy brown curls trying to get that mess of hair into a pony tail or a bun or something like it was supposed to be. As she was messing with it she heard the door start to creak open. She smiled slightly seeing an officer walk in. He was short, and sweet looking. He looked pretty young and she was eager to get to meet her new advisor. What she didn't realize was that she had more than one, because pretty soon afterwards another officer walked in, he had a splint on his wrist. He smiled at her "You the whole group?"

"Nah, I'm just the first one here normally," she replied with a smile.

He nodded. "Well that's good to know. When people start coming in more we'll learn all of your names, but since it's just us right now we can chat. I'm Jerrad…this is Logan, and soon you'll meet your other advisor. You've got three now," Jerrad told her.

"Oh wow, that's gonna be nice. I'm Monica," she replied shaking Jerrad's hand then shaking Logan's afterwards.

"Nice to meet you, Monica," Logan said.

She nodded, and as she was doing that she saw Ponch walk in. She smiled, already having met him before. "Hello Officer Poncherello," she said politely.

Ponch smiled. "Monica? I thought you were outta town this week."

"Plans changed…Brady fell and broke his arm so mom wanted us to stay home," Monica replied.

"Oh I see," Ponch replied. Then turned to the other officers. "Monica is Ashlyn and Anna's friend," Ponch informed them.

Logan smiled and nodded, already figuring that would be why Ponch already knew her. Ashlyn and Anna were Ponch's twin sixteen year old daughters.

"Haha speaking of them…where are they, Ponch?" Logan asked.

Ponch smiled slightly "Nikki had to take Anna somewhere so she said she'd bring Anna a little late. Ashlyn went to say hi to Getraer," Ponch replied.

"Is this group all girls?" Jerrad asked a little worried now.

"No, not at all," Monica replied quickly. "There are a lot of boys too," she added.

Jerrad relaxed a bit after that. Logan laughed at him. "What afraid of a buncha girls?" he teased.

Jerrad just rolled his eyes.

Logan smiled, then walked off to go find Ashlyn. Jerrad went and sat down in the second row, while Ponch went over and got his laptop and started to set it up so that he could go over some important events coming up, as soon as everyone arrived. As he waited for his laptop to start up he walked out of the room and down the hall to the vending machine.

Ashlyn giggled knowing what he was after. "Dad you're crazy!" she teased before going into the briefing room.

Ponch rolled his eyes then walked into the break room, and saw Jon sitting there.

Jon was supposed to have gone home a few hours ago, Ponch was confused at first when he saw this, so he backed up a bit to look and see if he could guess what was going on. It was hard to tell. Jon was just sitting in a chair, with his elbows on the table and his head rested against his fist.

Ponch forgot about the ding dongs he wanted and walked over to the table and put a hand on Jon's shoulder. Instantly Jon jumped at the sudden touch.

"You ok?" Ponch asked.

Jon looked up and saw Ponch, and the concern reflecting in his eyes. He nodded slightly and started to get up.

"Hey, I didn't come to tell you, ya have to leave…you can stay as long as you need to. I just came to get a snack. Are you ok though?" Ponch asked.

Jon nodded slightly. "Yeah, just tired I guess," he replied.

"Oh well you better get home before all the explorers get here…I hear some of them…or all of them are crazy. They'll be fun," Ponch said with a smile.

"Glad you think so…maybe sometime I'll join you guys," Jon said as he stood up. He was a little wobbly at first he grabbed his chair trying to catch his balance.

"Um…just tired, right?" Ponch asked a hint of fear etched in his voice.

Jon yawned and nodded as if to prove his point. "Uh-huh."

"Wanna wait a bit and have Nikki take you home? You seem too tired to drive," Ponch suggested.

Jon was about to protest, but then Getraer started to walk into the room. "What's going on here? Poncherello you're supposed to be leading a group of police explorers…and Baker you should've been home hours ago," Getraer said.

"Uh…right," Ponch said looking down at the floor not thinking of anything much to say.

Getraer raised an eyebrow. "No excuse at all? If not then get going."

Ponch nodded, then grabbed Jon's hand he started to take Jon with him. Jon walked tiredly behind, it looked almost as if Ponch was dragging a zombie. Getraer just watched then rolled his eyes.

Ponch brought Jon into the briefing room and sat him down, "Just stay here, when Anna walks in then you go out to Nikki's car and she'll take you home. I'm calling her right now," Ponch informed.

Jon started to protest, but instead all that came out was a yawn.

"I think you need to go straight to bed when you get home," Ponch added.

Ponch didn't realize that almost all the explorers were there now, and they looked back to see what was going on. Jon was falling asleep in the chair, and Ponch was talking to Nikki. Logan tried to get everyone's attention on something else, but he also wanted to know what was going on, Jon looked awful! Soon Ponch was off the phone. He looked at Jon.

"Alright, Baker you're gonna be going home in like five minutes can you stay awake that long?" Ponch asked.

Jon nodded.

"Great! I need to get to this meeting like I'm supposed to be doing. After everything is all done I wanna know what the heck you did today that made you so tired," Ponch said then walked up to the front of the room.

oOoOo

The meeting seemed to go by really fast, everyone was able to introduce themselves and get well acquainted with their new advising officers, and everything seemed to flow rather smoothly.

Everyone started leaving the building, and going to their cars to head home.

"So that seemed to go well," Ponch said to Logan and Jerrad as he packed up his stuff.

"Yeah…I just gotta remember everyone's name. It's nice that there's only sixteen names to remember though," Jerrad replied.

Logan just smiled and nodded.

"You're just ready to get outta here, aren't you?" Ponch teased.

Logan smiled he just wanted to get home to his wife and baby. He and his wife Abby had a fourteen month old baby named Chris and were expecting another child in December.

Ponch laughed "It's ok, I know how you feel I always wanted to run out the door the second things ended to get home to my family when my kids were young too," he said with a smile.

Logan blushed slightly and stared at the floor. "Yeah…"

"Let's go," Jerrad said. Logan was giving Jerrad a ride home. Logan smiled and said goodbye to Ponch then walked out the door with Jerrad.

"I'm glad you live close by…I can't wait to get home," Logan told Jerrad.

Jerrad rolled his eyes. "See this is why I still haven't gotten married, and started a family," he teased.

Then they both laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

Jon laid in bed staring at the ceiling, he glanced at the clock knowing that everyone from police explorers went home sometime between eight and nine he sighed knowing Ponch might call soon. He wasn't looking forward to that…he wasn't sure what he was going to tell him. Instead of a phone ringing though he heard a knock on the door. Jon looked at the clock again something about someone coming at this time wasn't right. He hoped it was just Grossie or something.

He slowly got up and slipped on a pair of slippers as he made his way to the door, yawning as he did. He looked around for something in case this wasn't just a friendly visit. Then he approached the door with a broom in his hand. He slowly answered the door, and relaxed when he saw Ponch standing there.

"Man you've got a death grip on that broom…it's turning your knuckles white," Ponch pointed out.  
Jon looked down and dropped the broom.

"Everything ok?" Ponch asked.  
Jon nodded and let Ponch come inside. Ponch closed the door quietly behind him. "Sorry I decided to come talk to you instead of calling…I was close by anyway," Ponch said leading Jon over to the couch. "Besides now I can see you when you talk to me so I can tell if you're telling the full truth or not," he added with a slight smile.  
Jon rolled his eyes. "Oh brother," he mumbled.

"Ya know Jon, I was really worried about you…I mean I have been…since…"  
Jon nodded "Yeah I know, and I told you I'm ok, Ponch. It's just hard to come home to an empty house every day…" Jon replied. He looked over to the side where an old picture of him, and his wife and daughter sat. A tear rolled down his cheek. "Especially when I used to come home to them…" he added, by the time that came out tears started to fall without him being able to control it anymore.

Ponch at first felt pretty helpless, there wasn't anything he could do to bring back Jon's wife and daughter. They had been killed in a serious car accident a few months ago, and Jon was one of the officers first to respond to the scene to see it. Sitting there watching his partner cry was killing Ponch. There wasn't anything he could say to help him that didn't sound cheesy, or like something that had been said over and over. So instead of saying a word to Jon he moved a little closer to him and hugged him.  
Jon was taken by surprise at first, they had been sitting there doing nothing for a while, except Jon who was crying…when suddenly he felt the comfort of his best friends arms wrapping around him in a tight hug. Nothing was said, because Ponch had already said a lot to Jon earlier…and he would say more later if he could think of the words to say. But right now, at this very minute no words were needed.

Jon hated to cry, he was always told crying wasn't a manly thing to do. So he kept trying to hold his tears back, and wipe them away before they fell.

Ponch smiled slightly and pulled away for a minute. "Baker, listen…I know you hate it, believe me I do too…but crying is ok. Besides it's just me…it's not like you're crying in front of Getraer or something…I'm your best friend. Believe me I'm not telling anyone about this."  
Jon looked at him, and nodded. "I know…it's just…"

"Hey, I know how you feel. I used to feel the same way…just let it go. I mean like I said you're only with me…you can cry I don't care. I've cried on you before…so you can cry on me," Ponch said.  
As those words were coming out Jon for the first time noticed the tears that were in Ponch's eyes. "Ponch?" Jon asked.

"What?" Ponch asked looking down at the couch as he dried his tears with his finger.

"Why are you crying?"

"I hate to so my best friend hurting so bad," Ponch replied honestly then looked back up at Jon. "Drying these tears…trying to hide them doing whatever to make them go away isn't helping so I'm just gonna let them fall," Ponch told Jon.  
Ponch hugged Jon again, and Jon began to cry on Ponch shoulder…it was a weird feeling for him at first, having never done that before…but Ponch just kept reassuring him it was ok, and he'd feel better when he was done.

oOoOo

Logan walked into the house and could smell the strong scent of a Christmas candle burning. Abby liked to burn the Christmas candles as soon as November hit. He smiled, then went to go find his wife and son cuddled on the couch. He carefully lifted Chris up off the couch and took him to his room, and tucked him in bed, and gave him his Teddy bear. Then he went and blew out the candle and led Abby to the bedroom.

Soon they were both in bed and cuddled up as best as they could and fast asleep.

 _Meanwhile…_

Ponch came home to his place, it was very dark, and everyone was already in bed. He quietly crept to the kitchen for a glass of milk. He tried to sneak past the dog, but wasn't getting anywhere. Buddy wanted to be pet. So he knelt down and pet the golden retriever.

After a while he got up and went to get a cup, not noticing the water spilled on the floor that someone had failed to clean earlier. Ponch slipped, and his head met the floor fast. Buddy ran over and began licking Ponch on the face, but got no reply from him, so he began to bark, waking up Anna and Ashlyn instantly. Both girls ran to the kitchen, and soon Anna felt Buddy's head on the back of her leg pushing her towards her father who was laying on the ground.

"Ashlyn get mom," Anna ordered.

Ashlyn nodded her head then rushed off.

Within a few minutes it was figured out that they were going to call an ambulance, because Ponch had been unconscious for a few minutes. When the ambulance arrived however he was beginning to stir.

oOoOo

"You're kidding, right?" Jon asked.

"I wish," Logan replied standing outside of Jon's door. "Sorry for coming this late to tell you. But on the bright side he's gonna be ok. They just wanna make sure he's well enough to go home. He did lose consciousness for a few minutes…I was on my way down to visit and figured I should tell you," Logan added.

"Thanks…mind if I tag along?" Jon asked.

"Nah, I figured you'd wanna," Logan replied then led him to his car.

oOoOo

"I'm ready to go home, Jon…"

"I know you are…but they just wanna make sure you're perfectly fine," Jon informed.

"This is driving me crazy! Do they have to take this long?"

Logan laughed as he leaned against the wall. "I think they take this long on purpose just to bug you, Ponch," he teased.

"Well tell them it works!" Ponch complained.

The others all laughed at that.

Pretty soon a nurse came in and informed Ponch that he was good to go home. He must've thanked her a million times for that.

She just smiled and nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

Ponch, Logan, and Jerrad all sat together in the briefing room looking at the schedule for what was supposed to go on for the next meeting. "Can't we just throw a Thanksgiving party?" Ponch asked.

"I don't see why not…I mean they'd all enjoy it," Logan replied.

"We'd enjoy it too," Jerrad said with a smile.

Ponch laughed. "Yeah, I just don't feel like taking them anywhere next meeting. I know it says it on the schedule…but how much you wanna bet none of them even look at that?" Ponch replied.

oOoOo

"They changed the schedule," Josh said to Gerard as he looked at the calendar. "We never had a Thanksgiving thing on the list…"

Gerard laughed. "They probably figured we wouldn't even notice," he said.

"You got that right," Mark said.

"Hey, at least we like eating food," Aaron pointed out.

All of the explorers were hanging out together just to have some fun. "Well, I guess maybe we should get ready for the meeting tonight," Nick suggested.

Anna and Ashlyn nodded with smiles on their faces.

The sixteen explorers, Anna, Ashlyn, Josh, Nick, Gerard, Aaron, Mark, Nattie, Monica, Phillip, Sam, Jack, Brady, Hank, Jeremy, and Kyle all headed out to their cars and on their way to the station for their meeting.

oOoOo

"Sorry guys, I'm exhausted…so I figured it would be alright if we just got some food and chilled tonight. Is that ok?" Ponch asked.

"Yeah, sure…I mean it's a great way to get to know you guys better since this is only our second meeting with you…and this way during our meal we can discuss our big Christmas party coming up," Nick replied.

"Ooh about that…I just wanna say so that you guys don't all feel like you weren't informed before it happened, Captain Burke, Lieutenant Bates, and Sergeant Getraer will be attending our Christmas party…so um…try to be on your best behavior," Jerrad said.

"It shouldn't be too hard, it's only been the second time with you guys, and I can already say that I'm impressed with how well you act. You are a very mature group of people…unlike the group I was with a while back," Logan added to what Jerrad had said.

The explorers all looked around the room at each other. Did he really think that much of them already? If that was the case, they had better keep this up for a while.

Ponch just smiled. "Sorry I don't really have anything to add to that…um if you are hungry there is food set up on the tables in the back. Help yourselves, then come back up here and we can all talk about the Christmas party…then I think Logan had a game he wanted us to play," Ponch instructed.

The explorers all looked around the room at each other and the room began to fill with chatter, about who gets to go first. The main argument was, that Josh was hungrier than the rest, but as all of them were busy arguing about it they didn't notice, Logan, Jerrad, and Ponch all sneak to the back of the room to get food first.

"So much for thinking so highly of them, huh Logan?" Jerrad teased.

"Nah, I still think that they'll behave well with Burke, Bates, and Getraer here," Logan replied reaching across the table to grab a dinner roll.

Ponch nodded. "I know at least Anna and Ashlyn will be good…you can count on that," he said.

The three of them laughed.

As they were laughing, the noise grabbed the attention of the explorers they all turned their heads. "Dang it! They beat us to it…" Josh complained.

"Let's just all go get food. It doesn't matter who gets it first, there's plenty for everyone," Mark suggested then got up.

The other explorers followed suit, but were all mumbling stuff to each other as they did.

After everyone had their food, they all came back to the front of the room, and sat down.

"Alright, so what are we gonna do on Christmas?" Logan asked sitting down and eating some of the mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Eat food," Mark said with a mouth full of food.

The other explorers all looked at each other nodding in agreement.

"Eat…play games…um presents! We should do a secret Santa thing," Anna said excitedly.

"Of course she wants to do secret Santa…" Ponch said quietly with a laugh.

They all discussed it for a while, all throwing out random ideas, and seeing who liked what idea best. It was then decided that they would be playing games, eating food, and doing a secret Santa thing. It was also decided that in the background they would be playing a movie. Everyone was pretty excited about that choice, so then they put everyone's name in a hat, so they could draw names for the gifts. After that was finished with the explorers all went back for more food before leaving, for home.


	5. Chapter 5

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Logan greeted as he walked into Getraer's home. Getraer had invited some members of his shift, and their family's over for Thanksgiving dinner.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Logan," Getraer said giving his officer a hug. As he did that, Betty greeted Abby, and Chris.

Logan looked and saw, some officers and their families already sitting around in the living room having fun. He noticed though that Jerrad looked a little down. He made his way over to his best friend, after having to say hi to a few other people along the way. Then took a seat beside him.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing…" Jerrad replied while rubbing his sore wrist.

"Nothing?" Logan asked with a chuckle. "Yeah right, I've known you for twelve years, Jerrad…when you're sitting over in the corner of the room doing nothing and staring down at the ground something is wrong. So what's up…and don't say nothing," Logan pressed.

"It's just…well…" Jerrad started then looked around the room. "Look around the room, Logan…everyone's so happy…they've all got good families, and everything that they brought with them. Me…I got nothing…the most I got is a dog," Jerrad complained.

"Hey, well dogs are family too. You love your dog, right?"

"Well of course! I spend so much money on her, and I love to be with her…she makes me feel good," Jerrad replied.

Logan nodded. "That's right…so um isn't she family?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Hey look, I know she may not talk to you when you talk to her, but she sure does love you a whole awful lot. So um…it may sometimes not feel like it but the pet is a family member…be thankful you got her," Logan said.

Jerrad nodded. Logan hugged Jerrad from the side. "Hey, cheer up. I don't wanna see my buddy, down on a holiday…be thankful…even if it's for the little things in life…" Logan said.

"Yeah cuz someday you might find out they were the big things," Jerrad finished knowing what Logan was saying. Then they both laughed.

"Sorry to quote my grandma, and my mom…and everyone that has ever said that to me," he said.

Jerrad just smiled. "Nah, I needed it," he replied.

Logan smiled then got up.

He led Jerrad over to the table to get some food. As they were standing at the table eating they didn't notice Jon and Ponch sneak up on them. Ponch grabbed Logan from behind, putting his hand over his mouth, Jon did the same to Jerrad. Jerrad not realizing it was Jon had a reaction as if it were some random stranger sneaking up on him and grabbing him, and tried to fight him, but moving and jabbing his elbow into Jon's ribs. "Ouch," Jon said letting go.

Jerrad turned around and saw Jon he started to laugh, but then he and Jon both turned and watched Logan still struggling to get free from Ponch. Ponch just refused to let him go free.

"Let go!" Logan begged his arm was twisted behind his back.

"Not until you give up," Ponch said.

"Never!"

"Then you'll never go free," Ponch laughed. Logan squirmed and struggled still. Normally it would've been easy to get away…but he and Ponch always ended up doing something like this, and Ponch knew that he was stronger than Logan, so Logan couldn't break free.

"Let him go already," Bonnie said laughing as she came to get a dinner roll.

"He never has given up in a fight…he'll fight till he's outta breath…which will take hours…if he's hungry enough though he might give up…so.." Ponch started.

"Ooh you're so evil," Logan said.

"Nah, I just wanna win this fight for once," Ponch replied.

This went on for a few more minutes, then Logan heard his name being called…well actually he heard the name daddy being called, but it was his little Chris' voice calling his name. He looked at Ponch wishing he didn't have to say it. "Dang it Ponch…I give up," he said.

Ponch laughed triumphantly as he let go.

"Remember this is only because Chris wants me," Logan reminded.

"Haha…I love you, Chris!" Ponch called to Logan's son.

Logan walked off to find out what his son needed.

The officers, and family all gathered around chatting with each other thankful that no one of them had to work today, but reminding each other that they had a Black Friday shift. A loud groan went around the room, followed by some chuckles.

"Well, it was a good night, why ruin it with Black Friday thoughts?" Jerrad said.

"Right," Logan agreed.

"See you tomorrow for the 'fun' shift," Grossie said.

"Yeah, see ya," Bear replied as he and Sindy walked out the door.

"Fun shift? I thought tomorrow was Black Friday," Ponch said.

"Ponch, we're thinking positive," Logan reminded.

"Ooh…yeah I mean yeah, fun shift is right, Grossie," Ponch said while shaking his head. Then he and his family went out the door.

"Haha fun shift…that's a good joke," Getraer said as he said bye to everyone at the door.

"Hey, we at least tried to think happy thoughts…" Grossie replied.

"Good night, Grossman," Getraer said closing the door after he left. That was the last guest to leave, and now the house was once again very quiet, it was time to clean up, then he'd get some time alone with Betty. Then head off to bed…he wasn't all too excited about Black Friday either. ..

 _A/N: Sorry it's late! I was busy on Thanksgiving…and have been very busy a lot. Anyway Happy Thanksgiving!_


	6. Chapter 6

When it was time for work, no one wanted to come in. They knew for sure the crazies were out today. Logan, Jerrad, Ponch, Grossie, Bear, Jon, Jeb, and Bonnie all arrived at the same time. Then the rest of the officers came in a little while after them. They sat in the briefing room and waited for a bit, waiting for briefing to start, each one of them dreading the moment of when it ended and they'd have to go out on the streets.

Everything seemed to go by very fast, and before they knew it they were at the store trying to break up the first fight that they heard on Black Friday. Someone had pushed a lady into the shelf, so that he could get to the tablets on sale first.

"Was that really necessary?" A man asked.

"I want that tablet it's that last one."

"That was my wife you just pushed into the shelf," the other man said his voice getting louder.

Ponch and Jon were just entering the store, not because they were called there, but because they stopped for a snack. It was the least busy of all the stores.

"What's going on here?" Jon asked walking over.

"Officer, he pushed my wife into the shelf so he could get that stupid tablet," the one man said.

"Lady, are you hurt?" Ponch asked helping the woman up, she had fallen after banging into the shelf.

"I think I'm alright…but that man needs to learn some manners," she replied anger rising in her voice.

"Look, you guys just finished celebrating a holiday of being thankful…can't you get that happiness back into your hearts for two minutes and walk away?" the man that wanted the tablet said.

The other man had, had enough when he heard that. He lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground, a loud scream escaped the lips of the woman.

"Hey now that's enough!" Jon yelled trying to pry them apart.

Jon was met with an elbow to the face, as Jon was falling back from the slight attack, Ponch caught him and made sure he was ok, before rushing over and grabbing onto one of the guys.

"Cut it out you two," he ordered pulling them apart. He pulled both of them to their feet, then got in between them. "Now someone mind telling me why this is really all worth it? You just want to shop, so why start a fight? You didn't need to push her…apologize…and you, ya hit my partner in the eye. I don't care if it was an accident or not you still hit him," Ponch said turning to the other guy.

Jon looked at the scene, he was impressed at how fast Ponch had got it under control.

"I didn't touch him!" the man shouted.

"Honey, don't argue with the cop…and yes you did," his wife argued with him.

The man glared at his wife for a moment, he wished she didn't point that out. Then he looked at Jon. "Look, I'm really sorry…please don't arrest me," he said.

Jon just stared at the guy.

 _Meanwhile…_

The day pretty much went like that for a lot of people. There were a lot of fights at stores, and a lot of accidents on the streets from people wanting to get to the store first.

The day seemed to go by really fast though with how busy it was, and before they knew it they were back in the locker room getting ready to head home.

"Well that went pretty well," Jerrad said.

"Yeah, we stopped at the store and Jon got elbowed in the face," Ponch told them.

"Trying to start fights on Black Friday, huh Jon?" Bear teased.

"No, trying to stop them," Jon replied rubbing under his eye. It was a little sore, still.

The group laughed at that, Bear patted Jon on the back. "I know, just had to mess with ya," he said.

Jon smiled, then they all started to leave. Saying goodbye one by one as they left.

"Ya know…this has been a pretty good year…I'm very thankful for all of this…especially my family here at the CHP," Logan said to Ponch as they walked out.

"I know what you mean…I don't know what I'd do without them. I'm thankful for each one of 'em," Ponch replied.

Logan nodded as they both exited the building. "See ya! Have a good night."

"You too!" Ponch replied as he went to his car and got in. He smiled as he drove home, just thinking about the last few things he had said...and he truly meant it...he was very thankful for his CHP family...what would he do without them?


End file.
